Law firm Mills & Reeve has advised French company 2CRSi on the sale of its stake in IT distribution specialist Boston.
2CRSi’s 70% stake was acquired by US-based Source Code. 2CRSi, which was founded in 2005 and has headquarters in San Jose, California and Strasbourg, France, manufactures storage systems, high-performance computing (HPC) and customised IT appliances.
2CRSi acquired a majority stake in Boston in 2019 and its revenue grew from €65m in 2018 to around €184m in the financial year ended February 2023.
However, the 2CRSi said that even though more than the majority of 2CRSi Group sales are generated by Boston Limited, its integration into the group was affected by operational and logistical challenges linked to component shortages, the Covid crisis and Brexit. In this context the 2CRSi board and the minority shareholders agreed to the sale of Boston to Source Code to further develop its potential.
2CRSi, which is listed on the Euronext Growth Paris, is a long-standing client of Mills & Reeve.
Alex Kenworthy, partner in the Mills & Reeve Leeds office, a fluent French speaker who advised 2CRSi on its original acquisition of Boston and this subsequent sale, said: “2CRSi is a leader in the IT and computer hardware industry. and the decision to sell Boston Limited has not been an easy one for the board. However, the sale will enable it to focus solely on its IT manufacturing activity and further enhancing its global reputation for excellence in the sector.”
Source Code were represented by Kirkland & Ellis and the minority shareholders were represented by Brecher LLP. The Strasbourg office of Fidal also provided advice to the 2CRSi board.
The deal is the latest tech sector transaction the Leeds corporate team has completed in recent months. The team have recently acted for clients such as Steel City Interactive, Jinoby Technologies, Traditum, B & Capital and Optalysis on various M&A and investment projects.
